Hello everyone! Welcome to the TIC newsletter, summer 2014. Well, since the last one, three months ago, Alison and I have made one of our periodic visits to the island - back in May in fact. This time, I'm pleased to say, we had gorgeous weather the whole time - unlike the time before, in November 2013, when Tenerife was experiencing its worst weather in 60 years!

Anyway, I've discovered a few snippets of info whilst there, so I can share them with you now...

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Charly Bar

This Los Cristianos bar/restaurant has always been very popular with holidaymakers, especially for the evening live entertainment. For many years, the duo Elaine and David were resident there and, when they finally left, to return to their native Ireland, there were many Facebook comments posted on my site's Charly Bar page, asking what had happened to them and if they would be coming back.
Alas, it seems not.

So, replacing them eventually as long term resident musician was keyboardist Mike Edwards. I thought he'd become a permanent fixture - until I walked past the bar in May and found that the management had changed things again and now had a regular selection of different acts every week. Once I got home, I updated the page, so if you want to know who's currently at Charly Bar, you can access that page on my site here.

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Overseas Chinese Restaurant

Within the San Marino complex, by the traffic lights near Los Cristianos town centre, there used to be, amongst the small selection of bars, restaurants and shops, this popular Overseas Chinese restaurant. Alison and I had dined in there a few times, but it was mainly handy for us as for
takeaways. In any event, food and service was always good. Anyway, it suddenly disappeared, being replaced with another business. Shame!

But, fear not, they've not closed down, merely relocated and I've found where they've moved to. If you start from Charly Bar and walk up the hill going away from the sea, you'll eventually see a large bar called Manhattan, on the corner of a road junction. The Overseas is just to the right of that. I must say, from the outside it looks a lot more classy and stylish than its previous incarnation.

Alison and I might give it a try sometime, except that walking up hills doesn't really come within our remit. Still, you never know.

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Food and Drink Prices

Every time we visit Tenerife, I check on the basic food and drink prices featured on my site. This page seems very popular and I cover alcoholic drinks, full
English breakfasts and cigarettes. However, recently this page has had a few Facebook comments posted on it suggesting I include pricing on children's soft drinks, meals other than breakfast and bar snacks. I must admit, it had never occurred to me to include these things - but it certainly makes sense.

Any update will have to wait until our next visit, which will probably be towards the end of the year.

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The Spanish Monarchy

Some of you may have seen in the news early in June that King Juan Carlos I of Spain had decided to abdicate his throne in favour of his son, Felipe, Prince of Asturias. It wasn't until midnight on June 22nd that the official ceremony took place, with the outgoing King being close to tears as he signed the abdication into law.

So, now, Spain has a new monarch, King Felipe VI with his glamorous wife, the new Queen Letizia, by his side.
This change of head of state has been quite timely, as the old monarchy had been tarnished by the scandal of Juan Carlos's son-in-law being involved in money laundering, further harmed by the old king himself going off on a luxury elephant-hunting safari in Botswana, while the whole of his country was struggling through a period of deep austerity. The already existing republican movement was gaining strength.

However, Felipe comes to the throne with a completely clean slate and has stated that he wants to guide Spain into a new period of prosperity. It is certainly on the cards that he will be a very popular King.

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PS...

A couple of notable events during the summer that I think are worthy of mention.

El Medano is a world famous town for windsurfing and, from the 4th to the 10th of August, it hosts the World Windsurfing Championships. If you go down and make
a full day of it, you'll find marquees set up, where nightly parties will take place. Sounds good!

Tired of seeing tribute acts? Want to see the real thing? Well, the real Roy "Chubby" Brown is coming to the island. On the 29th and the 30th of August, he'll be performing at the "Showtime" venue, which is found at Karting Las Americas, just off the TF-1 motorway, on the way to Adeje. "Not for the easily offended" seems rather inadequate to describe his act...but it's always guaranteed to be hilarious.

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